Barack Obama ended a 24-hour four-state marathon in Virginia on Saturday night, where he was joined by Bill Clinton.

The former president told thousands of Democratic supporters he had campaigned so hard that he had lost his voice.

As the pair appeared alongside Virginia’s governor, Obama referred to Clinton as “the master” and compared his own policies to those of his mentor in the 1990s, an era of job creation and balanced budgets.

He also said the organisation of his campaign no longer mattered, and it was now down to local volunteers to make a difference in drumming up votes.

“President Obama will win Virginia again because of the grass-roots campaigning on the ground and President Obama advocates the issues that Virginians care about: jobs and the economy, education, and health care. And most importantly, Virginia residents trust Obama.’’ said Obama Field Organiser Linh Hoang.

Barely two days before the US election, polls put Obama neck and neck with his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Once staunchly conservative, Virginia’s population has changed with many Washington commuters now living in the north of the state.

It is worth only 13 votes in the electoral college but they could be decisive.

euronews correspondent Paul Hackett, who was at the rally in Bristow, said:
“President Barack Obama’s campaign has been aggressive in laying the ground work for victory in Virginia. In 2008 he captured this key battleground state. Obama knows holding on here could prove crucial if he’s to be re-elected.”